LA Galaxy Blows Off 2-0 Lead at Halftime, Misses out on MLS Playoffs

The Los Angeles Galaxy blew off a 2-0 lead against the Houston Dynamo to lose the game 3-2 and miss out on a spot in this year’s MLS playoffs. Los Angeles needed to win the game to clinch a playoff spot. Instead, Salt Lake earned the spot after finishing the regular season one point ahead of the Galaxy in the Western Conference.

Ola Kamara scored a brace in the first 30 minutes to fire the Galaxy 2 goals ahead by halftime. Romell Quioto scored Dynamo’s first goal in the 57th minute. Mauro Manotas converted a 73rd-minute penalty to equalize the game before scoring the winning goal in the 79th minute.

Sunday’s loss is a disappointing defeat to Swedish star player Zlatan Ibrahimovic who joined the Galaxy in March from Manchester United and scored 22 goals in his first season. Galaxy’s locker room was also shocked by the defeat as expressed by interim head coach Dominic Kinnear.

“We needed to keep on playing because they have some players playing forward that can hurt you, Kinnear said. “And like I said, our possession the second half brought them a little bit closer to our goal. You wish you could take a timeout every now and again and get the guys together….But we still had chances at the end. We still had a lot of chance to score some goals. We were throwing everything forward. The guys gave everything they had. It’s an empty feeling right now for sure.”

Elsewhere, Wayne Rooney’s DC United drew 0-0 against the Chicago Fire to finish the East conference fourth and clinch a place in the playoffs.